Improvement in rowing-exercise apparatus



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UNITED STATES PATENT Orrron.

LEONARD D. TICE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT lN ROWING-EXERCISE APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1 56,392, dated October27, 1874; application filed April 21, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEONA-RD D. TICE, of

New York, N. Y., have invented a Rowing-- Machine, of which thefollowing is a specification:

The nature and object of .my invention consists in providing a means forexercise, analogous to the exercise obtained in rowing a boat. During alarge part of each year oars.- men of the north are unable to exerciseupon the water, and the result is that much valuable time is lost at thebeginning of each boatin g'season, in the necessary preparation andpractice for effective rowing. Gymnastic exercise is resorted to by manyoarsmen during the winter months, but the use of the ordinary gymnasticapparatus is of little benefit in comparison with rowing exercise, whichmore fully equalizes all the muscles and fits them for the work in hand.

Figure 1 is a vertical section through the cylinder, piston-rod, stud,piston-valve, and and oar-lock arm. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same,more clearly showing the oar-lock arm, the oar-lock stand, and the pipecommunicating with both ends of the cylinder. Fig. 3 is a sectionthrough the communicating-pipe and the regulating-valve. Fig. 4 is asectional view of the piston and piston-valve, showing the position ofthe valve when open, or upon the return of the oar or levers for astroke. Fig. 5 is an end view of the piston, showing the openings orports through which the water passes when the valve is open.

A, Fig. 1, represents the cylinder; B, the stud by which the cylinder isheld in position and upon which it fits loosely and is allowed to swing.O is the piston; D, the pistonrod; E, the piston-valve; F, the oar-lock;G, the oar-lock arm; h, the pin connecting the piston-rod and oar-lockarm; K, the car or lever; and L, the oar-lock stand. I, Fig 2, is

, specified.

a communicating pipe; m, the regulatingvalve; and o, the plug in the'pipe through which the c linder is filled with water.

The operation of the machine is as follows: At the beginning of thestroke of the oar or lever the piston is at the rear end of thecylinder, and the piston-valve is closed, as shown in Fig. 1. As thestroke is made the water is forced through the communicating-pipe, theopening of which is regulated by the valve m, into the rear or oppositeend of the cylinder. The return of the oar opens the piston-valve, asshown at Fig. 4, and the piston is returned to its first positionwithout resistance, the ter passing through the valve-openings.

By the arrangement of the cylinder upon the stud, which allows it toswing with the oar-lock and arm, a stroke is obtained identical with thestroke of an oar in the water, the resistance being greatest at thecenter, and gradually diminishing to the end.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An exercising-machine, consisting essentialy of a water-cylinder,having its ends put in communication through an outer connectin g-pipe,and a valved piston arranged to work within the cylinder, in combinationwith suitable operative mechanism, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

2. The rowing-exercise apparatus, substantially as described, consistingof the cylinder and its connections, in combination with the row-lock F,and arm'G, as set forth.

3. The combinatlon of the cylinder A, pipe l, adjusting-valve m, pistonO, valve E, and rod D, with the row-lock F, substantially as LEONARD D.TICE. Witnesses:

J UDAH S IFT,

H. E. SCHOONMAKER.

